As Jim tells us in his post of that title,  today is World Meteorological Day, which has been marked on 23 March since the 1950s. I had been ignorant of this until now, but I shouldn’t have been, as it is far too important to overlook. The official site for it can be found here, and has links to some important messages about climate. No doubt this won’t be respected in the White House any time soon, more’s the pity. To mark the day Jim is asking us to play a song related to weather condition such as cyclones, floods, hurricanes, rainfall, storms, tornadoes, typhoons, winds. This is similar to a theme from last July, and I’m going to be reprising one of the songs I played then, together with the version I first knew of it. I’m also adding in a rather sweet version I found when researching this, by someone I hadn’t previously heard of: three versions of the same song – is there no beginning to my imagination?

I’m leading with the one I’ve always known, since I first bought the album on which it featured back in 1971. This is from a 1995 reunion of those 1971 band members, as part of a show raising funds for the War Child charity, which supports children in war zones:

Folk music is never far away from here, is it! That was Steeleye Span with Cold Haily Windy Night, (not ‘hairy’ as autocorrect gave me!). It is a traditional English folk song which has been recorded many times, so the lyrics don’t come with the usual credits. They tell a rather tragic story of an important loss, though:

“Oh, me hat, it is frozen to me head
Me feet, they are like a lump of lead
Oh, me shoes, they are frozen to me feet
With standing at your window”

“Let me in,” the soldier cried
Cold, haily, windy night
“Oh, let me in,” the soldier cried
“For I’ll not go back again, no”

“Me father, he watches down on the street
Me mother, the chamber keys do keep
Oh, the doors and the windows, they do creak
I dare not let you in, oh”

“Let me in,” the soldier cried
Cold, haily, windy night
“Oh, let me in,” the soldier cried
“For I’ll not go back again, no”

Oh, and she’s rose up and she’s let him in
She’s kissed her true love cheek and chin
And she’s drawn him between her sheets again
And she opened and she let him in, oh

Then she has blessed the rainy night
Cold, haily, windy night
Oh, then she has blessed the rainy night
That she opened and she let him in, oh

“Soldier, soldier, stay with me
Soldier, soldier, won’t you marry me?”
“Oh no, no, no, it never can be
So fare bid thee well forever”

Then she has wept for the rainy night
Cold, haily, windy night
Oh, then she has wept for the rainy night
That she opened and she let him in, oh

Oh, and he’s jumped up all out of the bed
He’s put his hat all on his head
But she had lost her maidenhead
Her mother, she heard the din, oh

Then she has cursed the rainy night
Cold, haily, windy night
Oh, then she has cursed the rainy night
That she opened and she let him in, oh

Not especially subtle, is it! But in olden times, when there was no tv or internet, people had to make their own entertainment, which explains why they all seemed to have 23 kids. Steeleye Span first recorded the song for their second album, Please To See The King, which was released in March 1971. The first time I saw them play live was in November of that year, and as Maddy Prior remarked when she introduced this one “here’s a suitable song for tonight” – it was blowing a gale outside with the rain lashing down, so just a typical winter’s evening by the British seaside, really. They recorded the song again for their twentieth album, Bloody Men, in December 2006, along with several others that had been on previous records. I have since seen the band on many occasions, and whilst this one isn’t always in the set list it gets a good response when they do play it. I guess we like our tales of women being done wrong, which may have had something to do with the title of that later album!

I was planning on playing just two versions of this tune until I came across this one, which is rather nice, so I’m adding it in as a bonus. Spot the slight change of title, which is common with old folk songs:

I hadn’t heard of Betty Harrigan before, so I looked her up. She is from Ireland and I found this on a site called eartothegroundmusic. It is actually a review of the album shown in the clip, Full Circle, which was released in January 2013. They say that it is her first, but I can find no trace of any others by her. It seems she will remain a local favourite in relative obscurity, reflected by the fact that the clip I played has been up for nine years and has a total of just 90 views – including my three visits! She appears to be another victim of the music industry: often it isn’t a case of how good you are but of who you know.

The version of the song that I played last time is a little different. You may notice that it is sung in German, but I can assure you that it is the same song, which demonstrates for me the ability of folk music to transcend boundaries: